Monday, September 08, 2008

Homeschooling Begins

It has been in the plans since before my kiddos were conceived. Before I knew my husband. Before I even graduated high school. That said, it is hard to believe that the day has now come and gone; my first day as home school teacher.

I wanted it to be special. That was the reason for my staying up until 12:30am. The lack of sleep was worth it when I saw the excitement of my boys walking around the corner to a semi-assembled class room (dining room with some pictures on the wall and a shelf full of various activities).

The day began with a good breakfast and a walk around the block and of course the traditional "first day of school" pictures. (yes, I took them in front of a tomato plant. I don't know if we are going to be in this house for long, but I can probably count on growing tomatoes wherever we go.

The school activities began with Bible where we reviewed what each boy learned in Sunday School and reviewed catechisms. Max began to get anxious; showing the difference between a five year old attention span and and three year old attention span. As it stands, he can only sit at the table if he is not being distracting. The threat of having to get down and play by himself kept him very well behaved for the most part.

Following Bible was a break until the babies took their nap. We then resumed with Math where Jake became acquainted with pattern blocks. You would think by his reaction that it was Christmas. "WOW! These are SO COOL!!!" "I can't believe we've never had these things before!" "Can we play with them again? Do we have to be done??!!" It is a funny thing to see Jake creating. Any form of art has to have a purpose with imagination behind it. He is not much into "creating for the sake of beauty." This "creation" (as he called it) was some sort of machine that tore houses apart. Scissors were pterodactyls and glue was sticky mud. Even his hands were cranes as they put together the puzzle. Needless to say I was amused today.

After Math and a puzzle we took a break until lunch. The boys have not played so well together for a very long time. I expect that some of the contentment came from the excitement of the day, but hopefully it comes from a routine as well. We shall see. Another observation was how many times they went to get books to look at without my asking. Nice to see!

After lunch came story time...after story time came nap time (for Max) and then came the reading lesson. Perhaps it was the time of the day...perhaps letters are not easy to impose imagination upon...either way, he was a little bored with the reading. However, he was quick to look for words he could recognize in books during his rest.

Overall, the day was quite a success. Seeing them so excited about learning is such a wonderful thing and to be the one to show them the world is a treasure beyond words. I can't say how long I will have the gift of guiding them in their studies, but for now I am thankful.

And the babies: they were tolerable. One of them was being bounced on my knee during most of the lessons, but that is to be expected. Next year...I would rather not think about that! At least now they are immobile!

Mrs. Burch... there is someone I have never thought about since graduation... funny!Jo, isn't the excitement of teaching the best. I love the look in the kids eyes when the discover the pattern blocks as well! We had those out at school yesterday and we too had squeals of delite!

Oh Janine, no comparing. I was just telling Josh that my content of writing is going to have to drop even farther if I am going to keep up blogging. Hopefully pictures can speak for themselves.

Jess, I may have been paying attention in THAT class, but I totally neglected her health class. I am 100% addicted to coffee.

Yes, Cor, there is nothing better than seeing a child learn. If I had the time I would write a post on what I have been seeing in ALL my children in regards to learning the past few days. I am reading a book on it so it is on my mind

All this home schooling excitement is making me very nostalgic! These really are 'the good old days'. In spite of the extreme work load, physical and emotional, you will learn so much from your teaching experiences. God is good; He renews our strength every morning. It is such a reward to see my grandchildren being so loved. Blessings to all of you.

What a great day! Our day was similar, except our 5yo and 3yo are both girls. :) We even broke out the pattern blocks, which were also a big hit here. ;) It's fun to see similar experiences being shared. The little one at our house has a cold, so he was basically attached to me the whole day. :)